Nanton: Covid-19 disrupted our plans for female football

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President of the Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA), Kebra Nanton.
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By Neto Baptiste

President of the Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA) Kebra Nanton said that had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic, the body would have staged its first open women’s championships this year.

Speaking on the Good morning Jojo Sports Show, Nanton said the association has already started taking baby steps in an attempt to renew interest in the female version of the sport here.

“We started because we had females participating in the three on three competition earlier in the year in Guadeloupe, and we also had females who participated in the under-17 skills challenge. So in terms of the females, the interest is there but it’s just that we haven’t gotten to the point where we’re able to do a five on five competition, which would have happened some time later on in the year in between the summer schedule and the business league schedule,” she said.

Nanton, who was elected in 2018 to head the sport’s governing body, promised to revive the female version of the game during her tenure in office. Some argue that she has however neglected that promise with an election due in 2021.

The basketball head said the association’s plans were severely altered by the pandemic.

“We’ve only really had one year because this would have been our second year and it started off great and ended halfway through and there was nothing for the rest of the year. We have next year, which we don’t even really know what is going to happen, so it’s unfair to say that we haven’t really gotten the opportunity to do much because it was out of our control. But in terms of me throwing my hat back in the ring, it is still early to tell. It is something that I love and I will definitely want the best for the sport and so if it is I feel that I could do more then I may just continue,” Nanton said.

Basketball was the first competitive sport to officially cancel its tournament in March this year. The move came after the country recorded its first case of the coronavirus. 

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